Beauty in everything

Unique and beautiful Berber tribal women

Unique and beautiful Berber tribal women

Unique and beautiful Berber tribal women

The indigenous people of North Africa are not Negroid Africans and even the Arabs, but the people, called Berbers. Even more surprising is the fact that these people are representatives of the White Race, who had been subject to forced Islamization in the 7th century AD. Many Berbers are unaware that they are called Berbers, because they were given such name by other people, supposedly by the Romans. Berbers come from the Greek barbaros, or the Latin barbarus – ‘Barbarian’. Since the Greeks, and after them the Romans, called all the people, whose culture and language they did not understand – Barbarians. Now Berbers are called many Berber tribes that live throughout North Africa, from Egypt in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, and the Sudan in the south to the Mediterranean Sea in the north, as well as in other countries, including European ones. The number of Berbers in the world is estimated variously – from 20 to 40 million.

Berber tribal women old photo

Despite the fact that the network has a considerable number of sources, mentioning the Berbers and their history, there is no consensus when it all started. According to various sources, the story of the Berbers has from 3 to 11 thousand years. On the lands of the North Africa Berbers lived long before all known invaders – Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans. The Arabs who came to their lands in 7-8 centuries BC began forcibly Islamize and assimilate the indigenous white population of the continent imposing interethnic marriages. The official Berber language was forbidden in schools and anywhere, but despite this, and almost across-the adoption of Islam, the Berbers managed to save it and their mentality, culture and way of life. Maybe it happened because the Berbers somehow managed to combine Islam with their ancestral cults.

Too many strata happened in the history of this nation. Berbers in ancient times absorbed the ideological elements of other peoples as their neighbors, such as the Nubians and Egyptians and the peoples who have come to live on their land – the Phoenicians and Greeks.

Unfortunately, from the ancestors of the Berbers – Ants little has remained, and perhaps the Sahara safely hides their secrets. It is known that the Berbers also built pyramids and had a culture of megaliths similar to the megalithic culture of Europe that, in general, is not surprising. The most famous megaliths Berber – a 19-meter pyramid of Berber ruler Numibii Medrasen (Imedghassen), 30-meter-high pyramid in Algeria, in which lie the remains of two of the Berber kings, as well as a huge dolmen in northern Morocco. It was named the tomb of giant Ant. It consists of 167 monoliths which surround mound diameter of 55 meters. They found several petroglyphs which can be a fragment of the ancient writing of Ants.

However, there have been something that is not subjected to outside influence, as if frozen in time. This is – Berber traditional clothes, ornaments and archaic ornaments of crafts items. Look at the national costume. It consists of a long top shirt, embroidered at the neck and across the bottom, and a wide bright cloth skirt that is wrapped around the waist. The embroidery is dominated by red tones.

In addition to the suit, are perfectly executed traditional decorations. Beautiful, heavy, handmade, made only of silver or its alloys, Berbers do not favor gold out of superstition – it was believed to be a metal of devil and bring misfortune. Sometimes ornaments are golden reflections, but it is achieved through the inclusion of a small amount of silver in copper. And jewelry is made by women, the same as women own ancient script – Tifinagh. In the decorations they use traditional Berber symbols – the universe in the form of a spiral as a symbol of eternity, Berber cross teneghelt, similar to the Southern Cross from the Europeans for protection from the “evil eye”, the letter of the Berber alphabet «Yaz» – a symbol of unity of all peoples. These decorations indicate the social status of women and the family, the welfare of their husbands, and tribal affiliation.

it is surprising that in the symbolism of the Berber women’s tattoos, and not only there, apparently used by the Slavic-Aryan symbols, with both women – protective and attracting love, happiness, luck and help to grow healthy and strong children and men – Axe of Perun and gromovnik that the Slavs portrayed on the weapon.

In addition to these signs, Berber women paint on themselves other signs of Slavic symbolism. These are different swastikas and symbols of fertility – diamonds with dots inside – symbols of sown field. Yes, and the traditional Berber costume is very similar to the South Russian and Malorossia style of clothing, which also includes embroidered long shirt, worn on a skirt three-part ponyova. Moreover, traditional Berber women’s embroidered long shirt involves embroidery of swastika ornament. And head-dresses of Berber are also reminiscent of Slav headwear.

Berber wear kokoshnik and headwear of Kursk and Tula provinces and horned kicks, and the girl’s dressing and even their way of tie scarves is the same as is done in South and Central Russian villages. Looking at the photos of Berber women it is hard to believe that we are not talking about the Slavs, but the tribes of North Africa. And the photo below shows the performance of not Kuban Cossack Choir on its 200th anniversary in the Kremlin, but the Berber choir at festival in Kabylie – locality in North Africa at the junction of Libya, Algeria and Tunisia. It is also called “Berber triangle”.

However, the history of women of this tribe is sad, and interesting. They lived in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria. In 7-8 centuries BC they were converted to Islam, but they managed to preserve their identity and uniqueness, even until the 20th century. By tradition, the tribe women occupied a dominant position and were really independent. Their lives are radically different from the life of the “women of the East.” They did not wear the burqa and moved freely within the territory of residence of the tribe unaccompanied by men, even in their teens. Their main occupation was the art of dance. In this way they made their living. After accumulating a sufficient condition, they married.

It is noteworthy that among the numerous expensive jewelry worn by the women of the tribe Ouled Nails, were heavy silver and gold bracelets with spikes, which they could use as a weapon of defense. In 1830, France colonized Algeria, and the lives of women of the tribe changed. Europeans classified the dancers as prostitutes and forced them to accompany the military to provide certain services to the soldiers. Also, they were killed for their decorations. Now little remains of the heritage of the people, because after gaining independence by Algeria in 1962, no one involved in the preservation of this unique culture.